Snatching Fire
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: Azula poses as a Kemurikage in order to gain information about their agenda and the agenda of the New Ozai society. This results in her having to kidnap and care for Kiyi and Tom Tom. Lovely cover image by icewhisker21.
1. Midnight Errands

The girl squirmed around in Azula's arms; kicking, screaming, even biting. Anything to free herself. It was terribly infuriating really, but Azula had to admit that Kiyi was a rather worthy opponent. The girl had hindered her quite a bit…for a child anyhow.

Azula had stolen the Kemurikage uniform from a man named Quinn only a few nights back, but she already had a feel for how things were going to work; at the moment it would seem that there wasn't any particular agenda where the kidnappings were concerned. It was just a means to strike fear

A way of indicating that they meant business.

Whoever kidnapped the child watched that child…in a manner of speaking.

There were only two specific targets; Tom-Tom as his father was a miserable failure, and Kiyi for her relations to Zuko.

Even then, whoever captured the children would be the one responsible for them.

Quing-Shou was a particularly nasty fellow, from what Azula had heard of the man, he enjoyed abusing the children.

His good friend Teng-Hu wasn't much better. Though the man wasn't keen on physical abuse, he enjoyed terrorizing the children with horrendous tales and frightening truths.

The lot of the Kemurikage were like that.

For that, Azula had to be the one to capture Kiyi and Tom-Tom.

"Give her to me."

Azula turned to her partner. "So you can get the credit?"

"I just thought you could use a hand."

"I can handle a child, Yuso." Of course Kiyi waited until after she had spoken to deliver another kick. This one connecting with bruising force on her hip. "She doesn't even kick that hard." Azula added through clenched teeth.

"Do too!" Kiyi yelled and kicked again aiming for the same spot.

This time Azula caught the girl's foot with her free hand. "Perhaps it's time for a position change." She muttered to the girl before cradling her like an infant. With the child now only able to give frustrated kicks at the air, Azula continued her quick stride.

These midnight runs would be the death of her.

Epically if Yuso was to tail along with her every time.

"Eh, Quinn, we're almost there." He nodded towards a cluster of ivy, twigs, and blackberry brambles. Azula looked for the large rock, painted with three simple diagonal slashes, that lie a few feet away. The rock served as a landmark. A way of signifying that a secret entrance lie concealed beneath the brambles.

"I know where I'm going."

"Of all the people the boss could have paired me with…"

"The boss didn't pair you with anyone. You _decided_ to follow me." Azula kicked the forest clutter aside and slipped into the passageway, feeling for the ladder with her foot. She turned her attention back to Kiyi. "Now, the floor is pretty far down. You kick at me now, and you'll probably kill us both. So stay still and hold on."

Kiyi hesitated before wrapping her little arms around Azula's neck.

The princess began her descent.

"When we reach the bottom, you're going to do exactly what I say, got it?"

"Maybe."

Azula's left foot met the floor. She turned around, picked up one of the torches and quickly set it aflame.

"Hey you can bend—"

"Quiet!" Azula cut her off. "Did I say you could talk?"

Kiyi pouted and said no more.

"Thought so." Azula grumbled. The last thing she needed was for the child to blow her cover. Mentally noting that if Kiyi had blown her cover that she'd kind of deserve it—she'd have to get out of the habit of using blue fire.

She started down the hall, heading straight until it opened up to a bigger chamber that opened into two more hallways. If she remembered correctly she had to take a right. Then there would be a similar opening and she'd go left. Once more the hall would break off and she'd go left again. She'd reach a dead end with a small hole, where she'd have to firebend, and then she'd be in the area she'd come to know as the conference room. A room where the group held all their meetings and reported their progress and any important information to their leader.

"Wait up!" Yuso hollered, his cry rebounding off the stony walls.

Azula slipped around the first roundabout.

"Aren't you going to wait for your stupid friend?" Kiyi asked.

"He's hardly a friend. More like a setback." Azula trailed off. "What did I say about talking?"

Kiyi resumed her pout.

By the time Yuso had caught up, Azula had the secret passage open. Not leaving him time to catch his breath she strode up to the head of the Kemurikage. "I have the firelord's half-sister."

She could imagine the man smirking behind his mask. "Well done, see to it that the girl doesn't escape." He turned moved head to peer over her shoulder. Azula followed his gaze to meet two more masked figures.

Azula turned back to him, "that won't be a problem."

One of the figures let out a laugh."No wonder Quinn doesn't talk much, he sounds like a woman!" He elbowed his partner. The boy couldn't be older than 17.

"I thought the boss was kidnapping little boys, not hiring them!" Replied the other. Now there was a voice Azula could always recognize, as it was the most annoying she'd ever heard. It sounded as if the boy had a never-ending flu.

Of course, knowing that the voice belonged to Teng made it all the more insufferable.

She rolled her eyes as she headed for the door. Quing took extra care to give her a forceful shoulder nudge, the kind of nudge Azula could have chalked up as an accident had the room been bustling with people.

Feeling the leader's masked stare, she kept moving.

"Have you nothing to show?" Azula heard as the passageway sealed itself again. She almost felt bad for Yuso.

Almost.

"Are you just gonna take that?!" Kiyi piped up.

"For now."

She wandered back the way she had entered, once she reached the makeshift foyer she headed left. The left wing was the residence side of their underground base. She'd go to the left and then down a flight of stairs and take a right.

Azula counted of the room numbers in her head, stopping when she reached door 15. "Welcome home."

Kiyi wore a sour expression, mouth curved down in disgust. The child looked just about as thrilled as Azula felt.

Azula slammed the door shut behind them and set Kiyi on the ground. "Here's the deal. You don't try to escape, and I won't tie you up like the other Kemurikage do."

The little girl folded her arms over her chest, sticking out her lower lip. "Fine."

"Glad we got that out of the way." Azula replied, removing her mask and tossing off her cloak. She was more than happy to get out of that stuffy mask.

When she turned back around she was met by eyes wide as saucers. "You're that crazy lady who tried to hurt mommy!" Kiyi shoved an accusatory finger in Azula's direction.

"I'm not crazy." Azula mumbled.

The girl finally snapped, "I don't want to be here with you! You're mean and I hate you. I wanna go back by Zuzu! Take me back to Zuzu and daddy! . Zuzu. I like him better then you."

Azula lowered herself onto her new small and rather ridged bed, "doesn't everyone?"


	2. Precise and Deadly

**holmesfreak1412: Thank you. I totally think it would just be awesome if it was true; we'd get badass Azula and redeemed Azula.**

 **Fokusas: Petty sure that's canon. :P Even if it's not, it should be.**

* * *

"We'll get her back Zuko I promise." Katara put a hand on his shoulder.

"How are we supposed to get Kiyi back if we don't even know where she is?" Zuko roared. "You all keep saying that you'll find Kiyi, but you haven't even come close."

"Zuko, it's only been two days…" Aang pointed out.

"Yeah, and you know what happened in those two days?" He looked from Aang to Katara. "We found nothing, not even a hint as to where the Kemurikage are. And they've taken six more children." Zuko reminded them. "Six children!" He repeated with an arching arm gesture. "That's three children a night. And we can't stop them."

"We don't even know who they are." He continued. "Or what they want. Why would they get invested with Fire Nation politics? They're spirits."

"But what if they aren't?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah, you are the one who went running around in a mask calling yourself the blue spirit." Aang pointed out.

"And Katara pretended to be the Painted Lady." Toph added.

"I get it, maybe they aren't spirits. But it doesn't matter _what_ they are. What matters is that they're kidnapping my people." He gave the chair closest to him a rather forceful kick. It slammed to the floor. "Do you know what this is doing to my mother!? Do you know how worried Mai is for Tom-Tom?"

Katara peered into the other room where Mai sat clutching her brother. She'd been like that for the past two days, the child unable to leave her arms, not even to go to the bathroom. If he wasn't in Mai's arms, he was in her mother's.

It wasn't right.

The blade wielder was never this emotional.

 **.oOo.**

Azula drew the night colored hood over her head. This one was going to be a difficult one; Mai was guarding that kid with more intensity than a watch grizzly beardog.

Kiyi had kept her up all night.

For the second time in a row.

The girl didn't do much other than cry. And when she wasn't cry she was complaining. And when she wasn't complaining, she was coming up with something new and creatively offensive to call Azula. The more Azula told her to knock it off, the harder she would cry.

No wonder the other Kemurikage didn't suspect a thing. They probably thought she was torturing the child.

Perhaps she was, but she truly didn't mean to.

The girl was curled up in the corner trembling to herself, sobbing uncontrollably. "I want mommy. I want _real_ mommy." She muttered over and over again. Azula found her stomach knotting, some part of her, deep down, understood the Kiyi's mantra.

Azula neared the girl, extending her arm, ready to offer some sort of comforting gesture. She wasn't quite at Kiyi's side when she dropped her hand back to her side and turned the other way.

She couldn't consul a child.

Epically not a child like Kiyi.

With that sickly feeling sinking in, the last thing Azula wanted to do was snatch up another child. She could already hear his cries echoing off of the walls. He and Kiyi weeping; a duet of fear and despair.

And maybe, hate.

But Azula had to act tonight. Tom-Tom was becoming something of a competition to the Kemurikage, whoever got him first would be of a higher status. Quing in particular was hellbent on seizing the target. The boy was already boasting about how much praise he would be receiving and how naturally he's the best man for this job.

Azula turned to the child. "I recommend that you stay put. You'll find that there are people out there who are a lot scarier than I am."

The girl didn't roll over, didn't even spare her a glance.

Azula frowned and slipped out the door and locked it from the outside.

One step out from underground and Azula knew it was early. Too early, in fact. The Kemurikage seldom made any moves until after dark. In fact they never did, not until now. Azula looked to the setting sun, it was risky what she was about to do.

But she couldn't afford to have Quing and Teng,or any of the others getting in her way.

"Still pretty sunny out." Yuso called. "You're not planning on going for the prize now are you?"

Azula groaned. Without a word, she grabbed his arm and tugged him towards the brambles and pointed towards the opening.

"If our leader finds out…"

"He's not going to. And if he does, when he sees Tom-Tom in my arms he won't do anything but shower me with praise."

"Hey man, is this because of what Quing said last night? Because I don't think…well actually you do have a girly voice." Yuso rambled, "but it doesn't bother me!" He added quickly.

Azula sighed, "I don't care what Quing thinks of me or my voice. I just want to steal the boy okay. Quing has nothing to do with it." _He's simply one more motivation_ , she told herself. Outdoing the loathsome boy wouldn't do any harm.

"So get back in that hole, and shut yours."

"Okay man, "he put his hands up, "no need to get all angry."

Azula's expression soured, she could have been halfway into town.

He wasted her precious time.

Next to nothing annoyed her more than wasting time.

Azula slid between the trees, from one to the next. She was betting on the shadows and shrubbery to conceal her movements. If she could just keep to the shade, she'd have a chance. So far both elements were cooperating with her. She sent out a silent hope that the guards still followed the same schedule and positions as they had when she lived in the palace.

If they indeed stuck to the same positions there would be forgotten door to the west side of the palace still left unguarded. She'd come across that one as a child; Ursa thought it would actually be possible to keep her cooped up in the palace as punishment for lighting Zuzu's pants aflame.

Azula looked up at the sun, it was tucked half-under the horizon. By now the other Kemurikage would be making their preparations. And the palace guards would just be switching positions, signing out for the night shifters to start.

An opening.

This would be the most difficult part; there was no woodland coverage between she and the door she sought to enter. She'd have to make her dash in plain sight and hope that the shift switch would be a distraction enough.

Azula shoved herself away from the tree she previously leaned against. Swift and quick she reached the door, only to find that it was locked. She scowled to herself before kicking it in with a noisy blast of fire. And she bolted, granted she'd mapped it out right, if she kept running straight she'd come out in the kitchen.

It was still too early for dinner so she _should_ be able to go unnoticed in there.

The shuffle of footsteps urged her forward. Breathing heavily she emerged behind the kitchen counter. The pursuit, however, wasn't over. That secret passage only went in one direction, they'd find her in no time. She had to keep moving.

Only after she came to her father's secret room, the one wherein she'd found her mother's intercepted letters, did she allow herself a break. Leaning against the wall, she let herself slid to the floor, her panting echoing softly around the room.

She pressed her head back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. If she'd never found this room then she'd never have found her mother. If she hadn't found her mother she'd have never found her half-sister…

Never would have had to protect her.

What Azula just couldn't seem to figure out was why? Why did she want to help the little girl?

It wasn't her problem.

In fact the pain her disappearance seemed to cause a ZuZu and her mother a whole world of pain Azula never could have bought them.

Tom-Tom's case was no different; the minute something happened to him, Mai would break. Isn't that what she wanted? Didn't she want Mai to know what it was to lose someone who _should have_ been close to her?

Azula didn't have time to think on it. She poked her head outside of the passageway. Seeing the hall clear, she wandered slowly, light on her feet, to the room where which Mai sat rocking Tom-Tom.

Precise and deadly.

She needed to be precise and deadly like her lightning.

Well, perhaps in this instance, not deadly. But precise.

From within her dark robes, Azula drew two shirshu venom darts.

She need to strike Mai in the neck for the quickest results. All at once she needed to avoid hitting Tom-Tom; the boy's still growing body wouldn't be able to handle the venom.

With a flick of her wrist she flung the first one to Mai's left. As her former friend leapt to dodge the first, Azula tossed the next.

She cursed inwardly, the angle was slightly off.

She dashed into the room, dodging Mai's counter strike. Her eyes found the first dart, she hustled across the room to pick it up.

For her efforts she took a blade to the ribs.

With a dull hum of pain vibrating up and down her side she ran forward, jutting the shirshu dart into Mai's neck.

The girl fell, but not before attempting to land another blade in Azula's body. It was a pitiful clumsy attempt. As the venom took over her vision blurred, as far as she knew, she'd hit the Kemurikage in the stomach.

Azula grabbed Tom-Tom and threw herself out of the window, ignoring the searing protest given by her ankles as they hit solid ground. She threw herself into a run and didn't stop. By now the shadows seemed to engulf everything—rather they would have engulfed everything—but the entire castle was under a sort of lockdown, not a bit of the courtyard wasn't blazing with watchful fire.

As she slipped back into the protection of the dark woodland she caught only a glimpse of one of her fellow Kemurikage.

No wonder they weren't giving her a chase. They were busy with him.

Agni knows she hoped it was Quing they had caught.

Agni knows she was glad someone else had been caught and would be taking the blame.

Though Tom-Tom was wailing in her grasp, somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she'd be punished for risking so much.


	3. Room 302

**holmesfreak: Thank you. Tell me about it! They really need to just release part 2 lol.**

 **As a side note, I hope I made Quing hate-able enough.**

* * *

Azula wasn't the only one to get punished that night.

Quing had apparently taken off even earlier than she; after failing rather miserably to get Tom-Tom, the boy went to snatch up another child. An Earth Kingdom girl. He was very nearly caught. In fact, if she heard right, he had been caught.

He simply managed to break free.

No less, Quing had as everyone else put it; "put us all at risk."

Azula wrapped the blankets tighter around her body. _At least he let me keep Tom-Tom._ She kept repeating it to herself still feel the phantom pain dancing all over her body. It was more than just phantom pain really—no, the aches and ails still felt as they did when they were first inflicted.

She sat up, re-adjusted her pillow, and pressed her head back into it. Her hand kept making its way to her brow, she could already feel a bruise rising.

It'd be just one more reminder of what happened just hours earlier.

 _After arriving with Tom-Tom, Azula stood before the head of the Kemurikage, the kid still wiggled around in her grasp._

 _Behind that mask Azula couldn't even hope to read the man's emotions._

 _The silence he held was uncomfortable, perhaps he was waiting for her to break it. Azula opened her mouth to speak but before her words came out, the leader spoke._

 _It was as if he knew._

 _That's not possible, Azula decided inwardly, not even the Avatar could read minds._

 _She cast aside her second thought, the possibility that this man truly is a spirit._

 _"Take her to room 302." It was a simple command to those who hadn't studied the map of the place. But Azula knew its significance. The 300 level is where they kept the traitors, the captured adults—Mai's father among that lot, and the children who could behave or be controlled._

 _She fit none of the categories as far as she was concerned._

 _Rough hands pushed her into room 302 and the door slammed shut._

 _Her only cellmate was trembling in the right hand corner._

 _Her only cellmate was that asshole, Quing._

 _"Nice work." Azula spat, "if you hadn't gotten yourself captured, I probably would have been okay."_

 _Quing looked up. "You wouldn't have been okay if you didn't try to steal my prize."_

 _"Your prize? That's what Tom-Tom is to you?"_

 _Quing snorted, "yeah, what's he to you."_

 _"Faggot." He added._

 _That wasn't the first time he'd called her such. In fact he'd managed to get pretty much all of the Kemurikage—within his age group—to do it._

 _It shouldn't bother her, considering the insult was in reference to her feminine voice. And yet it did. Azula had made her fair share of fat jokes where Iroh was concerned, but this still got under her skin. Yuso was the one who kept her from beating Quing's ass._

 _Azula grabbed Quing and threw him against the wall. Yuso couldn't intervene now._

 _"The only reason you're comin' at me now is 'cause we're in small cell, queer!" He shouted._

 _"The only reason you aren't threatening to 'kick my ass' is because Teng-Hu isn't here." Azula retaliated._

 _She knew she wasn't behaving like herself. He was right, she never attacked someone weaker than her—minus ZuZu—she usually took on those who could provide a challenge. But she snapped; Quing was a source of strife from the beginning._

 _Until that moment she kept quiet._

 _She let Quing rally the Kemurikage against her, allowed him to outcast her, put up with all of the taunting…all of the jokes made behind her back. She let brushed off the commentary and was actually rather thankful to not be dragged down by social interaction. She couldn't risk growing attached to any of them anyhow._

 _She let them shove and nudge her._

 _But this was different. This time Quing directly interfered with her mission. No one was allowed to keep her from achieving her goals._

 _Azula slammed her fist square into his jaw. The boy cried out._

 _She should have done it a long time ago._

 _Again her fist met his jaw._

 _He couldn't talk if she broke it._

 _He didn't even try to defend himself._

 _Maybe he knew he deserved it._

 _…Maybe she truly was picking on someone far beneath her, as far as power went._

 _The next morning. Or perhaps two days later, Azula couldn't tell, the door opened._

 _The guards found him laying bruised and battered, crying and whimpering._

 _None of them said anything._

 _None of them cared._

 _As far as they were concerned, the two had their punishment, they were free to go._

 _Frankly Azula found her 'punishment' to be oddly rewarding…_

 _Until dinner rolled around._

 _As it turned out Quing had played the victim card. Everyone wanted to help poor poor Quing._

 _He didn't even do any of the fighting himself._

 _He simply trembled and yelled, "it was him! He did this to me. Gay boy did this!"_

 _Azula had half the mind to ask him who the faggot really was._

 _Not even she would sink that low._

 _She shoved past him._

 _"And he's doing it again!"_

 _And then his little rag-tag team of adolescent boys surged forward. They were landing kicks and punches from all angles._

 _Fire danced on her palms, ready for use._

 _But she knew the rules._

 _No bending._

 _The leader had made that rule. And without even giving a reason for it. "Strictly enforced." He said. "Under no circumstances will I see fire…or water or earth for that matter." The smallest flame would result in her expulsion.  
She got away with it around Yuso, but these guys would certainly rat her out. _

_One of them yanked her up so that another could slug her in the face._

 _Her hands were preoccupied with concealing her identity; right hand tugging the hood over her head, left pressing the mask to her face._

 _She managed to kick one boy in the shin and another in his privets. To her satisfaction both went down yelping like dogs._

 _But about seven others kept at it until not an inch of Azula was left unmarred by bruises._

 _She caught Quing and Teng-Hu sniggering near the back of the room._

 _After they finally finished with her Azula stood. It took a while, her entire body screaming at her to lay back down. She limped over to the food counter and got herself something to eat. The minute she set her plate on the table Quing back-handed it off of the table and into the wall._

 _"You don't get to eat."_

 _She waited until the room cleared to get what remained of that night's feast._

Azula was miserable and in pain that night.

She made a mistake.

She made her situation worse.

And her own stupidity was tearing her mind to shreds.

Kiyi, on the other hand, couldn't be any more thrilled. Tom-Tom's company bringing her much cheer. The two sat themselves on the floor chattering away while playing with imaginary toys.

Azula was too tired to tell either to knock it off and go to bed.

Instead she rolled onto her side and pressed the pillow over her head.

That was also a mistake.

A mistake that brought tears to her eyes as a fresh stinging sensation rippled up and down her beaten ribs.

She let out a soft wince and clutched her abdomen.

Kiyi looked up from her play and over at the bed. Deciding that maybe the woman on the bed would treat her nicer if she tried to be helpful, the child climbed clumsily onto the bed. She wound up resting atop Azula's legs.

The princess bit back a cry as the child shifted her weight directly onto the scratches and knots decorating her legs. The same scratches and knots that had just stopped throbbing. She groaned at the reawakened pain.

It only then occurred to Kiyi that she didn't know how to help Azula, so she just sat there on the foot of the bed, peering at the older girl. "Are you hurt?" She finally asked.

"I'm fine." Azula muttered.

This really puzzled Kiyi; Azula didn't _look_ fine...and yet she said she was.

"What happened?" Kiyi pointed to Azula's wrist.

"Nothing..."

"The how come it's bleeding?" Tom-Tom chimed in.

"Don't worry about it."

Kiyi began again, "when I got hurt, mommy always-"

Azula's eyes widened. "I don't care what mother did!" She snapped.

The girl jumped back, bracing herself to get hit. Azula had hurt her mommy, what was stopping the woman from doing the same to her?

But the slap never came.

"But how are you going to get better if you don't have someone to kiss your ouchies?" Kiyi risked.

"I don't need kisses. I can...get better on my own." Azula mumbled. "And if I can't, then I guess I just won't get better." Azula added softly and rolled onto her other side.

"I can help you get better! Tom-Tom and played doctor, I know how to do it!"

Azula couldn't ward off the slight smile that rose to her lips.

After all, she had nothing else to smile about.

The child was trying, that's more than anyone else had done for her.


	4. Sending Hope

Mai was speaking less than usual. That is to say, she wasn't speaking at all. She hadn't spoken to anyone in days.

No one was surprised.

But it hurt Zuko all the same.

Then again, he wasn't in the mood for talking himself. His mind kept wandering back to what Kiyi may or may not be undergoing at the hands of the Kemurikage. Those thoughts always seemed to cloud over any attempt at conversation.

Talking even less than the two of them was Ursa. The woman had positioned herself on her bed and lie there for several days, only getting up when Zuko insisted that she eat. She'd lost both of her daughters. She'd lost one long before she'd even got a chance to love her.

Ozai hadn't given her the time to raise the child right.

The young woman resented her.

But it hurt all the same.

And it hurt just as viciously as losing Kiyi.

Across the room, Zuko sat trying to read through some messages sent from various Fire Nation provinces. With his mind in such disarray he couldn't seem to pick out the meanings of any of them. It didn't help that Sokka and Toph were jabbering away.

And, with a hint of dismay, he noted that Aang's comforting words and Katara's hope speeches were just as nerve grinding.

He caught the end of one of Aang's attempts at conversation. "You know we'll find them both. Just like how I found Appa!"

"That's just what you said before we _lost_ Tom-Tom. They keep taking from us and we never take anything back!"

"What are you saying?" Katara asked softly.

"I'm _saying_ that the next Kemurikage to enter this palace is going to walk out on fire!" Zuko's temper finally exploded.

"Zuko, you know that isn't going to solve anything, they'll just send someone new…" Katara started.

"I don't care what it solves or doesn't solve." Without thinking he knocked the scrolls before him to the floor. "I need someone else, someone on their side to hurt the way we do."

Aang looked around the room.

At the withdrawn mother lying on her bed.

At Mai fiddling with her weaponry with more melancholy than usual.

At Zuko, who was once again fuming to such a degree his younger self would probably be put to shame.

And Aang realized what was missing. This thing seemed to always be present in all of their adventures no matter how dismal things seemed. But it seemed to be in short supply at the moment. Everything just looked so grey. "All we need is a little hope."

"And where are we going to get that!?" Zuko slammed his fist on the desk, burying his face in his hands as if the action would drive out his frustrations.

Katara looked over at Zuko, "Maybe this time we just have to wait for hope to come to us."

 **.oOo.**

If Azula knew it would be this easy to break Zuko she would have done it years ago—granted Kiyi wasn't in the picture years ago. No less she would have done it. And she wouldn't be feeling how she felt now. A foreign emotion.

One she wasn't prone to.

One she hadn't felt in so long she really couldn't place a name on it.

Others might call it guilt.

She had taken Kiyi and Tom-Tom for a reason. "It's the only way to make sure they ever return home. The only way they won't see any harm." She kept telling herself. The mantra did little after hearing Zuko threaten to light her on fire.

Well, not her specifically, but he may as well have.

The more Azula heard, the less she felt she should linger by the palace.

The further she should keep from home.

But home was all she really wanted.

That was it, she decided, that's why she felt the need to protect that stupid child. What other reason could she possibly have? She could see in her mind's eye, Kiyi laying on the foot of her bed. All night the girl stayed there, keeping Azula company. Not saying anything, but still giving her as much support as a child could provide.

But that didn't give reason to her wanting to protect the child before that night.

Before last night.

No, Azula wanted home. She wanted to be back at the palace, pampered by servants. And the only way to do so was to get Zuko's trust. And to get his trust she'd have to be the hero. It was a selfish motivation she knew. Her motivation had to be selfish, she decided, everything she did was selfish.

And Azula found herself bitterly snickering.

Home…

Change one letter and she wanted the same thing as Zuko. Hope and home…they weren't so different were they?

Azula drew her cloak back over her head and slinked back the way she came. She took the long way.

Stalling.

That's what she was doing now.

She knew what she was going to have to do when she got back to the underground hideout.

The other Kemurikage were growing suspicious of her. Apparently more of them abused the children than she thought.

She felt sick thinking about it. She pictured Kiyi lying next to her, asking her if she was okay. And Tom-Tom, wide-eyed. Innocent. Hadn't done a bad thing in his life. Azula didn't particularly want to hurt either of them.

She drew a few coins from her pocket, rattling them in her palm, intent on getting something to eat along the way. And then she spotted a store.

If she was not mistaken, this was where her father used to buy her makeup from.

She looked from the food stand to the makeup store. She would have never had to make this decision if she were back at home. She'd just be able to buy them both and then some.

Upon arriving back in her small room, Azula dropped her handful of newly purchased belongings down on the bed. She picked Kiyi up and set her on the bed. "Hold still." Azula commanded. "Understand?"

Kiyi nodded.

Azula drew out her kohl eyeliner and various other tools. Hopefully she'd bought enough makeup…and the right kind…to make her little trick convincing.

"You keep the makeup on. Don't smudge it, don't wash it off." Azula instructed as she applied the kohl, dark and heavy, around the child's left eye. "I can make you look hurt, but you're going to have to act the part as well."

"Whaddaya mean?" Tom-Tom asked.

Azula sighed, this was why she hated talking to children, she always had to dumb herself down to do it. She always seemed to forget that they had a much…simpler language.

How troublesome.

"The makeup," Azula moved so that Tom-Tom could see Kiyi, "makes you look scratched and bruised. But you have to act hurt too."

"Mm kay." Tom-Tom climbed up onto the bed. "Ow! Ouch! Owie!" He chattered to himself as Azula continued working with Kiyi.

"How was that!?" He asked.

Azula rolled her eyes, "it was fine, now how about you wait until after I put the makeup on you to continue acting?"

"But I still gotta practice!" Tom-Tom declared.

"You're acting is fine."

Kiyi giggled, causing Azula's perfectly straight line to run squiggly down her face.

"I said hold still!"

"Sorry." Kiyi mumbled as Azula rubbed the smudgy squiggle away.

"There." Azula stepped back to view her work.

Kiyi hopped off of the bed making room for Azula to set Tom-Tom down. "Now it's your turn."

Tom-Tom was surprisingly easier to work with than Kiyi, she had his makeup applied in just a little over five minutes. Rather it would have been so had it not been for her uncanny need to make every aspect perfect.

"Alright. You two stay put…" Azula caught a glimpse of Kiyi on the verge of rubbing her eye "and _don't_ smudge the makeup! I have one more thing to do tonight."

"Can I come with?" Kiyi asked.

"No. Absolutely not. You'll only slow me down."

The girl set herself into a pout.

"And if I take you with, I'll have to take Tom-Tom too. You have to watch him." She said quickly and then added, "it's an important job."

Kiyi tapped her small pointer on the corner of her mouth. "Hmm…I guess so."

"Good, I'll be back in a bit."

Azula slipped out of her room. If things went accordingly she'd be killing two birds with one stone tonight. She edged down the hall and to the left into another hall and then made a right. Quing's room was down there somewhere.

She made sure no one was around before peering into the room she thought was his.

Apparently she thought wrong, for Yuso was the one lying on the bed in that room.

She move to the next door, feeling a pang of sympathy for Yuso, when she found that he was in fact right next door to Quing. Though the boy himself wasn't there, the Earth Kingdom girl he kidnapped was.

And she was just the child Azula was looking for.

Azula took in a deep breath, hoping that Quing was stupid enough to leave his door unlocked. She placed a palm on the door and shoved.

For once in a long time, luck was on her side, the door squeaked open.

Yuso poked his head out, opening his mouth to speak.

Azula put a finger to her lips and slid inside. Only coming out when she had the child.

The child made out to scream, quickly Azula cupped her hand over the child's mouth. She bit down.

Hard.

Right between her thumb and pointer.

Azula could feel warm blood trickling down both sides of her hand. She ignored the stinging throb that came with it. "Don't say anything Yuso."

He shrugged. "Quing could use another good asskicking."

"Perfect." Azula replied. "I'll see you at dinner."

 **.oOo.**

Zuko stared out into the night, wondering how many of the Kemurikage were out that night. Wondering how many kids were being taken. How many mothers, fathers, and siblings were screaming out in anguish.

The vague shapes against the inky-blue horizon—houses and trees and everyday people—took on skewed images in his mind. Images of Kiyi crying and cold somewhere deep within the forest. Of Tom-Tom tied up to a tree as the Kemurikage mocked him in firelight.

Who knew what those guys were up to.

He came to see them as savage humans and spirits just looking to take children to taunt them and hurt their families.

Amoung the trees, Zuko caught a flicker of black.

He squinted into the darkness, watching a little shape waddle up the palace steps.

Impulsively, fire sprung to his fists. He shot up from his sitting position with such haste that the chair clattered noisily to the floor.

"What's going on?" Aang followed in his lead.

"Someone's out there." He answered.

Katara peered out the window. "It's just a little girl. A-and I…I think I know her."

"Kiyi?" Zuko asked.

"No. Hope." Katara whispered. "I delivered her after going through the Serpent's Pass."

"Hope." Zuko repeated.

He looked out into the courtyard again; one of the Kemurikage jumped down from the roof and into the black of the tree-line.


	5. The Plan

"Why would they just hand her back though." Zuko frowned, his eyes settling on the Earth Kingdom child.

"I don't know." Katara replied. "But I think it's a sign."

"Her mother is going to be so happy!" Aang leapt off of his chair. "I can't wait to see her face when she gets Hope back."

Zuko felt envy-laced rage boil up within him. "Why should she get her child back!? Why can't I have Kiyi? Why can't Mai have Tom-Tom?"

"How could you say that!?" Katara asked. "This is a good thing!"

Zuko ran his hands through his hair. "I'm just angry. I thought…now that the war is over, now that I have my mother. I thought things would be perfect." He paused. "And it was. Until they came."

"I think things started going bad when the New Ozai society came around."

"Aang, you ready to take Hope home?" Toph called.

"Just try to look on the bright side." Aang told Zuko. "They gave Hope back. Perhaps they'll give the others back too."

.oOo.

Azula sat in the lunchroom wondering how many of the Kemurikage were spirits and how many were human. There was a time when she wondered why the spirit Kemurikage wanted humans among them at all. She found out one night that they couldn't enter a room, much less a house, uninvited. A considerable weakness one she often used to her advantage when they came knocking and she hadn't finished applying the makeup to Kiyi and Tom-Tom.

Her excuse was always the same; "I'm still getting dressed."

Azula drummed her fingers on the table, listening to Quing's usual string of insults. She'd have already retreated back to her room, had their leader not requested that they stayed behind after dinner to listen to his plan.

 _It shouldn't be too long now._ Azula thought to herself. It was more or less something to inspire her keep enduring Quing's jabbering.

And then he fell into a hush, the entire room did.

Their leader made his way to the front of the room. "Tomorrow is going to be a very special day." _The man doesn't waste any time,_ Azula noted. "Tomorrow we will have the Avatar eliminated and Firelord Zuko dethroned. Once we do that, we'll be able to spread out to the Earth Kingdom and then the Water Tribes."

"How are we going to do that?" Asked a man to the left.

"Using the children of course." The leader replied. "We will possess them. Use them as vessels. The Firelord and his army will fight us, but they won't risk harming the children. We'll be able to unleash our full power without worrying about having to defend ourselves."

Azula had stuck around this long to get information and she still wanted to know why the spirits wanted to meddle in politics. Now was as good a time as any to find out. "But what is the point? Why go through all this trouble?" She asked. She knew she was gambling, for all she knew, he'd already told them why prior to her arrival. "We're doing all of this, taking all these children…but why? What do we have to gain?"

"Freedom of course." He was grinning. An evil grin. She could feel it in his tone. "And more. During the rebirth of the Avatar we will be able to pass through the veil much easier. We can roam free and we can take the mortal world for our own. The more influence we have over the leaders of the mortal world…"

"The easier it is to stay in power." Azula finished.

"Precisely, Quinn."

Azula waited until the room cleared some to leave. She didn't want to look too eager to get back to her room. She was going to have to sneak the children out immediately.

There were still some loose ends, but she had attained enough information for now. Though she no longer knew what to do with that information now that she decided not to use it to meet her own ends. It would be both risky and stupid to try. The other humans…Quing…they were all foolish to stay. They would only be pawns at the end of the day.

She swung the door to her room open with more force than she had intended. Tom-Tom had already made himself comfortable on _her_ bed where he lie sleeping soundly. Kiyi, she wasn't in plain sight, sending an immediate jolt of panic washing over her.

"Kiyi?" Azula called into the room.

When the girl didn't answer, she shook Tom-Tom awake. "Where is Kiyi."

The little boy rubbed his eyes, "I dunno, I was sleeping."

Azula knelt down to check under the bed. She felt a tiny hand wrap around her wrist, reflexively she yanked it back.

Kiyi crawled out from under the bed, laughing so hard her stomach ached. "I scared you!"

"You did not!" Azula snapped.

Kiyi frowned, "you don't have to yell at me."

Azula dodged the comment, "alright, listen, we need to leave."

"Where are we going?" Tom-Tom asked.

"Back to Zuzu?" Kiyi clapped.

"Back to Zuzu." Azula confirmed. "But if we're going to do that, you're going to have to listen to me. No more hiding, no questions, no exceptions."

"Okay, Zula"

"I'm serious." Azula muttered, she was quickly coming to learn that she just couldn't seem to scare Kiyi into listening to her. The child was just as stubborn as she, the two of them weren't all that different. "I've seen you smudging your makeup and if you think I don't know about you scaring Yuso…just do what I say for once."

"I will, Zula."

Azula found herself pacing around the room. Just how the hell was she supposed to smuggle the two of them out without sufficient time to plan for it?

Before she could even begin her planning, she saw the door crash open.


	6. Thick Clouds

The rain fell heavy on Azula's skin.

Thick pouring rain.

The kind that no one ought to be out in.

Her hold on Tom-Tom tightened with each boom of thunder. Perhaps it was a means to comfort the boy. Perhaps it was a method of self-comfort.

Lightning that she would have otherwise enjoyed watching split the sky in menacing jagged angles. The rain was now falling so heavy that she had trouble seeing anything more than a few feet from herself. She felt Tom-Tom shivering against her chest.

The rain chilled her just the same.

And she had no protection from such a chill. Even if she wanted to make a fire the rain would no sooner douse it out.

She glanced quickly to the right to make sure Kiyi was keeping up.

Even if she wasn't, Azula wouldn't have the energy to carry both of the children.

She recalled the door crashing open thirty minutes before their departure. Yuso was the face that had appeared behind the door. She should have took him up on his offer, should have let him come along. He could have carried Kiyi.

But she hadn't thought about it.

There was a lot of thinking she didn't seem to be doing lately.

And her own impulsiveness was beginning to get under her skin.

It'd soon kill her if she didn't start thinking again.

 _The palace couldn't be too far now_. At least that was her hope. She chided herself; _how many times had she been down this route? She should know it by now._

Tom-Tom whimpered. She loosened her hold.

"Slow down!" Kiyi hollered.

"Can't." Azula called over the pounding rain. She looked back, allowing the wind to pull her hood off. "We can't waste time."

"I can't keep up."

Azula gnawed at her bottom lip. "You have to."

"I can't." Kiyi protested in a near wail.

Azula looked back again; the child was some feet further back than before. Azula scowled and slowed her pace. It was then that she realized that she needed a break just as much as the child. Her lungs burned, her eyes stung with rain water, and there was a sharp throbbing working in between her ribs.

She was fast.

She was athletic enough.

She always had been.

And yet her body still yearned for her to show it mercy.

And she couldn't. Azula hadn't welcomed a whole hour worth of constant pain, just to get caught and have everything she worked for uprooted…again.

"Zula, can we please take a break?" Kiyi asked.

"No. No breaks, we're already losing time."

"Zula, I'm hungry." Tom-Tom added his input.

"The sooner you get home, the sooner you get to eat."

"Hurry up Kiyi!" Tom-Tom yelled.

If Azula wasn't exhausted, focused, and aching all over she would have laughed. Tom-Tom had a thing for speaking the truth no matter how rude or brutal. _Smart kid, he is_. She managed a small smile. She had to get him home.

Deep down she knew that this was no longer about playing the hero to earn her place at the palace back. Deep down she knew she wasn't just pretending to…love those two brats. Perhaps she had been before…

Her shrink had drilled it into her brain that if she played a role…acted out a lie long enough it would become the truth. That continuing to do so would be unhealthy. And she supposed that this was one lie she didn't mind becoming a truth.

Even if it wouldn't last.

She wondered if the other Kemurikage were still closely perusing her or if the storm had gotten the best of them.

She wouldn't risk finding out.

So she pressed onward. Her leg muscles growing more and more worn with each tenth of a second. It didn't matter, they were in the light of the Capital now.

The smell of meat and various spices coiled around her nose. Azula looked at Tom-Tom, realizing that she was just as hungry as he.

She halted her pace and set the boy down, a new ache settling itself in her belly.

"Are we getting food Zula?" Kiyi asked.

She couldn't go order food in her Kemurikage mask.

She also couldn't order food as Azula either. Not yet.

Pressing her lips into a thin line she considered sending one of the children to order it. That idea was just as awful. "No."

"But why not?" Tom-Tom wailed. She saw the tears welling in his wide eyes.

Azula looked around as faces turned to her. "Quiet!" She hissed. For once the words came out much harsher than she had intended. This only added to his reasons to cry.

Azula quickly pulled the children into the shadow of an alley.

"Look, we're almost at the palace. We're almost by…" Azula struggled to come out with it. "We're almost by Mai. Don't you want to see your sister?"

Tom-Tom considred.

"Food or Mai?"

Tom-Tom nodded, "Mai."

"Alright then." Azula forced a smile. "Let's go. Now we're not going to be running anymore. In fact we're going to have to be slow and sneaky."

"Like when we play ninja?" Kiyi asked

"Uh. Yeah, sure." Azula agreed, whatever helped the child register her plan. "We have to get to the palace without getting caught. And then we have to get into the palace without getting caught."

"Or we can just get to the palace and knock on the door because we live there too." Kiyi shrugged.

"You and Tom-Tom live there. I. They don't want me there." Azula mumbled.

"I do. So Zu-Zu can deal with it." Kiyi declared.

Kiyi was just as brilliant as Tom-Tom. Perhaps some of Azula's own habits had rubbed off on them. Zu-Zu would surely be thrilled. "Alright, fine," Azula smirked. "We'll do it your way. We just have to get to the palace."

The two children nodded affirmatively.

"Just stick to the shadows, stay quiet, and follow me. I've done this enough so it should go smoothly." Azula stated. At this point they probably wouldn't have to worry about the Kemurikage either. It's hard enough to sneak three of them in, much less a whole scout team.

If she was correct, they'd have backed down when her lot arrived in town.

Their short journey to the palace was quiet. Quiet and uneventful, aside from Tom-Tom whispering that he needed to pee. Azula didn't really need to know that, but at least the comment eased some of the tension building within her.

Azula felt a knot forming in the back of her throat. A growing sense that she should just retreat—tell Kiyi and Tom-Tom to walk the rest of the way on their own. She'd never admit to herself that she was nervous. Not about facing a troop of palace guards, but about facing her brother and ex-friends.

Even as she neared the palace entrance she refused to admit it.


	7. The Escaped

Perhaps they were close enough now, for her to just drop Tom-Tom and Kiyi off and leave.

She pulled the sopping hood over her head and led them to the door.

"I think you guys can handle it from here." Azula stated.

"You mean you're not coming inside with us?" Tom-Tom muttered.

She set the boy down next to Kiyi. "No, I have something to do."

"We can come with you."

Azula sighed. She really didn't have a choice at this point. She'd stolen the children from the Kemurikage. They'd sooner kill her before taking her back. Even if she managed to evade them she'd really have nowhere to go. Nowhere worthwhile anyhow. She'd had enough of uncomfortable living in the Forgetful Valley. And on top of it all, the storm only seemed to be growing more turbulent.

At this point even if she did want to abort her mission she couldn't. For once again, Kiyi had proven to have a mind of her own and a determination to mach Azula's. The child had already heaved the door to the palace open, screaming, "we're home Zu-Zu"!

Azula could already hear footsteps padding swiftly down the hall. She turned to leave, only to find Kiyi's small hand tugging on hers.

"Please don't go."

Azula pulled out of the child's grasp, putting some consideration into staying.

That moment's hesitation cost her, her opportunity to leave.

"Zu-Zu!" Kiyi hollered, practically jumping into his arms.

He scooped the child up. Azula had never seen him look so happy. Had never seen him smile so brightly. He hugged Kiyi tightly, laughing like a little boy. "Mai, look who's back!" He looked up, his eyes falling on Azula.

She reflexively tugged the hood further over her head and adjusted the mask.

Zuko's cheerful expression tightened into one of confusion. "Why?"

Beneath her Kemurikage mask Azula let her own expression fall blank. She picked up the bottom of her cloak and turned towards the door.

"Wait, don't go!" Kiyi called. She burst out of Zuko's hold and ran over to Azula, catching her by the cloak. "I want you to stay with us. I want you to come home."

Home.

It is what she wanted. And yet she couldn't seem to find it in herself to stay at home. From there she came to admit it to herself; she was afraid. Afraid to face them all. Zuko, her mother, Mai, TyLee, all of them.

Azula tugged her cloak out of Kiyi's tiny hands and continued to walk away.

She didn't get very far down the hall before spotting them. The rest of the Kemurikage.

Azula walked back to where Zuko, Kiyi, and Tom-Tom had been standing. Apparently after her departure they decided to walk off as well. Now she would _have_ to face everyone all at once. The thought sent a tingle rippling in her belly.

She entered the dining hall anyhow, where she found herself met by about eleven sets of eyes. The whole gang is here, she murmured bitterly to herself. Iroh, Zuko, Ursa, the Avatar and his posse, the children, Mai, and TyLee—all accounted for.

Katara stood first; "I won't let you take those kids again!"

"Not after we just got them back." Aang added, taking an offensive position of his own.

"I'm the one who bought them back to you." Azula pointed out.

"Then what are you still doing here?" Mai hissed.

"I'm here to…warn you. They followed me."

"How many?" Zuko asked.

"They still out number us by a few."

"Can we take them?"

"Depends," Azula replied. "On how many are human. And who they sent."

"This is so messed up!" Aang threw his hands in the air. "It's bad enough that Ozai escaped."

"What?!" Azula yelled more loudly than she wanted. A new feeling of dread seated itself within her. She tried to remember if the Leader had mentioned anything about breaking him out. They had already meddled with the New Ozai society.

But when would they have had the time?

And what would the point have been?

"Well, if you were looking for him" Azula remarked, "you many have just found him." She motioned to the dark shapes infesting the doorway. 


	8. Harmful Hands

**So thanks for all of your reviews guys, I enjoy reading them and responding to them. I'm already getting a start on chapter 9 so hopefully I won't be keeping you waiting as long this time.**

 **holmesfreak1412: I finally got around to reading part two. Gosh I hope they really do have her undercover, I want an Azula redemption arc.**

 **Tyleepoof: :) Use all the cliffhangers! Worry not, I'm determined to finish this fic before Winter break ends.**

 **Mizuki00: *Whispers* All of them. All the cliffhangers. Every cliffhanger. Thank you. That question is actually going to be answered in this chapter. As far as readers have been shown in Smoke and Shadow he's still rotting in prison lol.**

 **Write Right Rites: *Does the thing* now fill your eyes with what happens. :D :D :D**

* * *

The Kemurikage flooded in like a thick dark storm cloud. Swiftly and quietly they filled the space of the room, boxing Azula, Zuko, Aang, and the others in.

"I always knew you were a frightened little bitch." Called a voice from the back. Quing's voice of course. "But I didn't think you'd actually try to run."

 _I'm not running, I'm returning the children you stole_. The words rested at the tip of her tongue, but Azula let them stay there. She didn't owe anyone explanations, least of all him. So instead she stood quietly, waiting for a true figure of authority to emerge. Waiting for their leader to finally show her what he could do.

"Still have nothing to say Quinn."

"Quiet, boy" another man stepped up. "We've got more important things to worry about than your petty quarrels. Our leader didn't send us here to mess everything up."

Azula recognized that voice too.

"Father." Zuko grumbled.

So the leader left him in charge of the group. A new kind of anger surged within Azula. Just imagining him sitting in the corner of the dining hall, sipping hot tea as Quing and his friends shoved her around calling her "queer" and "fag" and the like on a day to day basis.

 _He wasn't there when it all started_. Azula told herself. _He didn't hear me talk. He doesn't know…_

Kiyi bunched herself closer to Azula, pulling her away from her distressed thinking.

"Give me the children and no one has to get hurt." Ozai offered smoothly.

"Someone _will_ get hurt when you have them and get your way." Katara hollered.

Azula's grip on Kiyi tightened.

"And you." Ozai pointed at Azula, "how dare you betray your people." He only motioned to the Kemurikage, but Azula had this striking feeling that he meant the whole of the Fire Nation. She choked down the knot that had formed in her throat and pulled Kiyi even closer.

"Why aren't you by Zu-Zu?" Azula whispered to the child.

"I want _you_ to keep me safe."

Azula scanned the room for Tom-Tom. As expected he was nuzzled up in Mai's arms.

"Alright, have it your way." Ozai backed up into the swarm of Kemurikage. "Attack the Fire Lord and his little friends and get the children."

"You will not take my children from me again!" Ursa roared.

"You don't have a say in the matter." Ozai shrugged, before sending a jet of fire in the direction of Zuko. With that the room came to life. All in one chaotic blur, Katara unleashed her water whip, Aang readied all of the elements he had at his disposal, Ozai slipped into the crowed, Mai let out a flurry of blades, and the Kemurikage surged forward (some dodging Mai's metal rain others taking the offense).

Azula ducked under a sea of reaching arms and stray fireballs, pulling Kiyi along with her. She moved quickly and swiftly, all she had to do was make it into the hallway and she could find one of the secret passageways.

"Ow, ow, you're hurting me." Kiyi whimpered, tears clinging to the corner of her eyes. "You're holding me too tight."

Azula pressed her lips into a thin line.

"I said you're holding too tight."

Azula hadn't the luxury of worrying about that. She didn't really even hear the child through her fog of determination. She slipped under another snatching arm, this time tugging Kiyi up to her chest. _How could she be so foolish, dragging the child behind her like that_?

"Hey! That one has Kiyi!" Tylee shouted.

"Is that the one who bought her here?" Zuko asked.

"Let's not wait around to find out." Sokka yelled.

Azula felt a hand tugging at the back of her robe and prayed that it was one of Aang's lot.

"Of course not." Azula muttered to herself as she ducked down, placed her own arm above that of her captor's, and twisted out of his grasp. With the fall of his hand came the fall of her hood. She quickly drew it up over her head again.

A sharp cry cut through the battle.

TyLee had been bought down, Azula realized.

And then another cry, this one more masculine.

Probably Sokka.

Her side was slowly falling.

"I got the Avatar!" Called an excited voice.

"Freaking Quing" Azula hissed to herself.

"And I got the boy." Stated another. That voice was also familiar, from where Azula didn't have time to place.

She was very nearly at the exit.

"And I'm going to get the girl." He leapt in Azula's path.

"Like hell you are." She growled, fire roaring to life in her palm. No one was paying attention to her anyhow. No one but the man before her, and he wouldn't be a problem for long.

"No wait!" He whispered hoarsely. He tugged off his mask.

Azula let the fire die out. "Yuso, what are you doing here? They must need all the help they can get…"

Yuso frowned. "Thanks, I can always count on you to drop my self-esteem down a notch or two." He paused. "Give me, uh, Kiyi. Kiyi right? I can get her out of here."

Azula loosed her hold on Kiyi, but only briefly before tightening it more firmly than before. "Do you expect me to just take your word for it? You're still one of them."

"So are you." It was spoken more as a question than a statement. "I don't know what our leader has planned but I know that you and your father want Zuko off of the throne." To Azula's annoyance this accusation was vocalized with much more confidence. "Princess." He added as an afterthought.

She gave him a mildly hard thump on the head. "Quiet!"

Just as conveniently as the Kemurikage seemed to forget about her, they inconveniently remembered her.

"Alright fine then." Yuso muttered. He thrust a ball of fire into Azula's stomach and snatched Kiyi.

"Yuso, I'm going to kicking your ass!" She shrieked at the man as he dashed down the hall.

"Sorry," he called. "Had to make it look convincing. I think you did a good job."

"No really, I'm going to kick your ass." She muttered more to herself, rubbing her belly where the fire made contact. She winced.

A new arm yanked her upright, sending the ache in her middle up into a searing pain. Tears of both pain and frustration streamed down her eyes, leaving her twice as thankful for the cover of the mask.

Azula surveyed the battle scene. It would seem that in the duration of her chat with Yuso, Team Avatar regained the upper hand. With her in the grasp of the Kemurikage, she had a sinking feeling that they just lost it again.

She just had to get herself caught.

Azula felt her captor's hand dig through the robes, into her scalp, tarring painfully at her hair.

"Nobody move or I'll kill the boy." Ozai threatened. With her head forcibly tilted to the ceiling she couldn't see it, but she could feel the crackle of lightning at the soft of her neck.

Azula forced herself not to flitch, to maintain an impassive posture.

To her dismay she heard the shuffle of footsteps, the swishing of a robe.

"I said don't move! That means you Zuko." The sparks danced closer to her skin, some straying from Ozai's grasp, biting her white hot in the neck. "Do you think this is a bluff? I. Will. Kill him."

 _Him_. Azula repeated inwardly. _Him_. Her father really had no clue.

"I have a plan." She heard Aang call from somewhere else in the room. "But I could really use a distraction."

This could go down one of two ways, Azula pondered. Either Aang would be just as distracted and no progress would be made, or he'd ignore the knowledge he was about to attain and go through with his plan. Even if he didn't, she'd have made an opening for herself.

"This better be one hell of a plan, Avatar!" Azula yanked the hood from head and threw the mask to the floor.


	9. Careful Words

"Azula!"

She didn't know who said it.

Maybe they all did.

At one time.

Her father's voice stood out among the others.

"How dare you disgrace your Nation like this?" Ozai growled.

The Avatar didn't come through for her. The boy was just as distracted as the rest of them. She'd have to utilize her own opening. Still staring furiously at his daughter the former Firelord had loosened his grip. "What are you doing?" He muttered to her. Azula wretched herself free of her father's grasp, following the motion up with a spray of bright blue flames.

"Breaking free from you..." She scowled. "From what you _made_ me."

With no time for her usual elegance, Azula flung herself across the room and into the man holding Zuko. "Let's go dum-dum." She grabbed Zuko's arm and pulled him through the crowd.

"What are you—where are you going?" Zuko hissed.

"We have to catch up to Yuso." Azula muttered.

"Who?"

"Don't worry about it, you'll see."

Zuko came to a halt. "No. You're going to tell me what you're up to, because I don't have time for this I have to rescue my sister."

"My other sister." He added as an afterthought.

"That's what we're doing. Ya know, if you would get moving." Azula tugged his arm but he had his feet firmly planted. "Come on Zu-Zu, you said it yourself, we don't have time for this."

"After everything you've done you expect me to think you _aren't_ trying to lead me into a trap of some kind."

"I'm not," she turned her back to him, her voice losing the power it held only seconds ago, "I promise."

"You're promises are always empty."

"I was the one who bought them home!" Azula shouted.

"Yeah, and you bought our father and an army of other Kemurikage too." Zuko pointed out.

"And did father look happy to see me!?" Azula hollered. "I could have stayed with him you know? At least with him I can pretend like someone cares." She flicked the hood over her head, closing off any possibility of him seeing the unshead tears that burned at the corner of her eyes. "I chose Kiyi over power and certainty. I chose you over power…" She trailed off.

"You did?" Zuko asked.

"Never mind. Look Zuko, if you want to save Kiyi you're going to have to trust me. You have no choice." She paused. "And if you don't then I guess I'll just go find Yuso myself." _I don't know where I'll go after that_ , she added to herself _perhaps the three of them would just…hide away somewhere_. Azula suddenly found herself overwhelmed with regret.

She should have just done that from the beginning, she should have just taken Kiyi and Tom-Tom and left. Of course Yuso wouldn't have been in the picture then.

But that would have been okay.

He was nice enough but she didn't really know the guy anyhow.

The overwhelming regret gave way to intense sadness. All of the sadness and fear and loneliness she'd been bottling up since running into the Forgetful Valley. The weight of it all making her physically tired. She just wanted to sit down.

Just wanted a break.

A rumble of footsteps sounded down the hall.

She may as well take it because they'd lost so much time already.

 _And anyways_ , she thought, _Kiyi and Yuso are probably miles away._

 _Safe._

She found a spot against the wall and slid to the floor.

That was all that really mattered.

She hadn't meant too, that much was true, but she'd grown fond of the children.

Of Kiyi and Tom-Tom.

 _And Tom-Tom!_

Dread filled the hollow space in her belly.

Yuso hadn't taken Tom-Tom.

The footsteps came to a stop. Most of them anyhow, only a single pair of feet could be heard padding down the hall. Azula already knew whose they were.

"Azula." Ozai called. "I just want to talk to you." The words spilled from his mouth calmly and without malice. Azula shuddered, her sense of unease hitting an all-time high. "You will talk to me, right?"

At least she was used to him yelling at her when she failed him.

That's all he ever did.

Yell.

And yet she somehow knew that this calmness would bring something much worse.

"You have to get Tom-Tom, Zuko." Azula whispered.

"I'm worried about Kiyi right now." Zuko replied.

"She's safe with Yuso."

"How do you know?"

"Azula…" Ozai called out again.

"I just do." Azula shrugged. "I have to go Zuko. If you don't want to come with, fine. Take your chances with father."

Zuko's eyes went wide, or as wide as they could get with the scar. "I don't think I have a choice."

Azula hadn't even had time to pick herself off the ground when she felt his presence behind her before she turned around. There was this peculiar energy about him; dark and dismal and full of hate. Azula found herself glad that she wasn't as sensitive to auras as Ty-Lee.

She felt his hand on her shoulder.

Strangely cold.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Your brother, yes. But not you." Ozai spoke.

Each word struck Azula with a new pinch of fear.

The fear of him she'd been trying to purge for years.

He was speaking all too smoothly.

All too clearly.

It was unsettling.

And even more unsettling was the reminder that this is exactly how everyone feels about her. Why Zuko probably didn't just go with her. Perhaps she should have yelled at him as if she were still in the middle of an episode. Perhaps he'd have listened…

Perhaps they'd be out of the palace by now.

"Are you listening to me?" Anyone else would have missed the cold anger seeping into his voice. But Azula knew it.

"Y-yes father." She sputtered.

"Good, good. I was just hoping you'd come back with me. I heard how he was talking to you." He pointed at Zuko. "He doesn't trust you. None of them do. As soon as this is over you'll end up right back in that institution. I know how much you like it there." He didn't miss a beat. "But I won't let that happen. When we're done, we'll be back in power. You won't have to worry about that." He circled around to face her. "You won't have to worry about Quing either, I'll take care of the boy."

Azula cast her eyes away from his gaze—a thing that was passive and intense all at once. It didn't make sense.

"I just don't understand why." Ozai continued. "Why you'd let me down like this."

Azula pressed her lips firmly together.

He knelt down forcing her to look him in the eyes. "I wasn't asking you to answer, I was telling you to do so." His voice dropped dangerously low, dangerously calm.

"I wanted my crown." Azula spoke softly, fighting to keep her voice level. She knew she wouldn't be able to. She never was when her father was involved. "So I helped them kidnap the children. And then she…Kiyi told me she was scared and didn't want to be alone. So I bought her Tom-Tom. Well I was going to do that anyways…I think. And I told her stories and—" She was rambling. Her voice shaking. She was making a fool of herself.

Azula began feeling dizzy with discomfort. Ozai knew it, he sensed it. He always did.

And as always he offered no mercy, his silence pressuring her to continue speaking. Feeling her face grow hot, she pressed on. "I gave her Tom-Tom and told her stories so she'd never have to be alone and afraid with her own thoughts, wondering if she'd wake up okay the next morning." Her head felt heavy, she bowed it down starring at her knees.

She felt the tears sprinkling down into her up turned palms.

The corner Ozai's lip twitched up. "Like you did?"

"Like I did." She repeated softly, her voice cracking.

She hoped Zuko didn't notice.

Or maybe she hoped he did. Her face reddened further, this time with anger. _How come he wasn't helping her?_ She answered herself; _because I never helped him_. Or maybe he was too afraid. She couldn't hold that against him.

Ozai pulled her into a hug. "Come back to me. I can offer you the protection you need." He glared at Zuko. "Unlike your brother. He never seemed to care did he? No one will love you. No one but me."

She hated that, how he always seemed to know what she was thinking, how he always seemed to strike the right cord.

"They'll never trust you. They won't let you in. So come back to me. Why risk everything when chances of success are so slim when you can come back with me where you know you'll have at least one person to care for you?" He paused. "And the girl. She likes you right now, but eventually she'll become afraid. Zuko will fill her head. She'll see you as a monster just like everyone else."

As if his persuasion wasn't already powerful, Ozai just had to fill up the blank space. The one sparkle of hope.

She knew exactly what he was doing.

She hugged her father back.

She knew that he was toying with her in the same way she toyed with everyone else.

Which probably made it worse that she took his word for it. Just like she always had.


	10. Spoken Truths

Azula shivered as Ozai brushed a stray tear off of her cheek. "Come on, let's go find Kiyi shall we?"

His hands shouldn't be that cold.

It wasn't natural.

She found it in herself to lie to her father one more time. "One of the other Kemurikage took her. She's probably already back in the hands of our leader. And he can continue with his plan like nothing ever happened."

"Our leader…" Ozai mumbled. "Trust me darling he won't be for long."

Azula knitted her eyebrows. It sounded so…naïve. How could he possibly overpower a spirit? How could he…

She shoved the man off of her.

"He knows I took Kiyi and Tom-Tom." She hollered. "The leader knows. What do you think he's going to do when he sees me again? Because I certainly don't have a clue, I just know it won't be pleasant."

Ozai pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're exhausting me child. Just trust me will you? Would I ever let anyone hurt you?"

The word 'no' was on the tip of her tongue, just ready to be released. To vocalize it would have been as easy as breathing. Instead she backed further away from the man. "You let the Avatar hurt me all the time. You let Zuko…"

He cut her off. "I sent you on a mission that I trusted you with, under the impression that you could handle it. Apparently I was wrong."

Her face fell. _Of course. That's right._ Of course he was right. It was her mission and she'd been eager to do it. "You let me hurt me." She said finally. "You knew! On the day of the comet you knew I needed help." She growled, each word getting louder than the next. "But you left me alone anyways. I just didn't want to be alone. But you left me behind _because_ you knew I needed help. You didn't want me to mess anything up so you shut me up with a useless title."

"Azula…" He started.

It was her turn to cut him off. "You used me. You've been using me since the day I was born. You probably planned on using me _before_ I was born." She turned away from her father and started walking in the other direction. She stopped and turned around slightly. "I'm not going to let you use me again."

"You really are on my side." It was more of a bewildered statement than a question.

"No Zu-Zu. I'm not on your side either." She hissed. "I was, and then you found a way to make me feel like I was doing something wrong. For the first time in—in—for the first time ever, I felt like I was doing something good. And you took that away from me."

Zuko couldn't help but notice the way her voice shook. And it scared him more than her flat, indistinguishable tone. Anger, fear, sadness—he still couldn't tell which emotion she was feeling. Maybe it was all three.

He just wanted it to go away.

"Don't you want to keep feeling like you're doing something good?" Zuko asked.

Azula stopped again, he noticed her head dip down again, could practically see her eyes squeeze shut. "Maybe I don't. Maybe I just don't want to feel like I'm doing something bad." And she continued to walk away.

"Azula, get back here!" Ozai snarled.

And for once Zuko shared the same sentiments.

"Since when do you run away from your problems?" Zuko called.

"Since that became the only thing left to do Zu-Zu." Azula replied softly. He almost didn't hear it. "I can't fight this. I can't just burn away my own mind."

"Do you really think I'm just going to let you leave?" Ozai yelled furiously.

Zuko saw the lightning sizzle over her fingertips. "You don't have a choice father."

"I won't let you leave either." Zuko put in.

Azula rolled her eyes. "Zu-Zu, you have less of a choice."

In the same heartbeat that it took for Ozai to blast a ball of fire at her, Zuko had ran up and caught her hand. The ex-Fire Lord's attack sent both siblings toppling painfully over each other.

"Dammit, Zu-Zu! Why do you insist on ruining everything for me?"

"I ruin everything for you?!" He sputtered.

Azula scrambled to her feet.

"I'll give you one more chance Azula." Ozai scowled. "Tell me where Kiyi is." His voice softened, "and we can just forget that this ever happened. I'll tell you what, if you bring Kiyi to me, I'll make sure she's okay."

"What power do you have to do that?" Azula hissed. "That's right, you don't have any at all. You don't even have your bending."

Zuko had never seen his father look so infuriated in all of his life. In the same way he had pushed Azula's buttons, she was pushing all of his.

"That doesn't mean I can't hurt you."

"You'll have to get close to me first." Azula kicked her own ball of fire at the man.

"Oh that won't be a problem." Ozai grinned, a strange sort of smoke wisping off of him.

"And here I thought I'd have you for sure." She recognized the voice that seeped from her father's mouth, but it wasn't his own.

Just when she thought she could feel any sicker.

That wasn't her father, only a shell of the man.

Only a dead vessel.


	11. Deja Vu

"Who? What is that?" Zuko hissed.

"He's our…the leader of the Kemurikage."

"But he's our dad?"

The leader sniffed haughtily. "The man, your father served his purpose but he became more trouble than he was worth. So I…did away with him. Kept his body lying around just in case. I had my suspicions about you 'Quinn'. And like your father you've served your purpose—"

"I really shouldn't do this" Azula mumbled over the spirit. She grabbed Zuko's arm and pulled him down the hall. "Now I'm going to let go of your arm and you're going to start moving on your own. Got it." She cast a glace over her shoulder. "Because he's right behind us."

She let go of Zuko's hand, he seemed to be keeping pace well enough so she didn't slow down either.

"'You have no bending?' That's what you went with!? He used firebending on you moments before!" Zuko broke the silence.

"Not now Zu-Zu."

"You really were nervous weren't you?"

"Shut up."

"Just trying to ease the tension." Zuko shrugged.

"Ease it elsehow." Azula muttered.

"Wait, what about Tom-Tom?" Zuko asked.

"I'm thinking about that." Azula replied, she shoved him into the secret passageway she'd become so familiar with. "I'm also trying to figure out how he used firebending. Spirits don't bend, do they?"

"I can't see anything in here." Zuko declared. "Are you sure you're going the right way?"

"I know what I'm doing Zu-Zu. I've been in this passage more times than I can count. How do you think I got out of the castle when mother was angry with me?"

"I always thought you just walked right past her."

Azula snickered. "I should have." By now she could feel the outside air against her cheeks. "We're almost out."

"I can tell."

The pair trekked the rest of the way in silence. Azula growing evermore preoccupied with coming up with a way to defeat the spirits. Zuko still deciding whether or not he could trust Azula. The more he thought the more he decided that she was just working with him to save herself from a problem she created. The teary-eyed speech and the story about waking up afraid had to have been for show. She—in her right mind—would have never cried that way in front of him.

"You really went in over your head trying to get rid of me didn't you?" He spoke up when they came to the exit.

"My plan would have worked if I didn't feel bad for the stupid children." She grumbled more to herself than Zuko.

"Hey! I'm not stupid!" She felt a small foot collide with her shin.

"It's good to see you too, Kiyi."

The little girl stuck out her tongue.

"Oh thank Agni you're back. For a while I didn't think you were going to come back." Yuso shouted. "This kid is driving me nuts, she'd been beating me up for the past twenty minutes!" He ran at Azula with outstretched arms.

"Oh no, I don't think so." Azula put her hand out, intercepting the hug. "The only reason she beat you up is because you let her."

"So what's going on? Are you okay? Did things go well with your father? Where's Tom-Tom?"

"You ask way too many questions."

"Okay, okay. I've been really out of the loop on everything. Like every time something important happens no one tells Yuso. And here I am! I'm finally in the loop! I want to know what's happening."

"And you talk too much."

"You don't make anything easy for me." Yuso muttered.

Azula sighed. "I'm fine, Yuso." She wrapped her arms around herself. "He wasn't even my father, well he was at one point. I don't know when the leader killed him. And Zu-Zu is making a burden of himself like always."

"I'm still here."

"Why do you think I bought you up?"

Kiyi snickered.

"No really, are you okay? You're bleeding."

Azula touched her fingers to her neck. They came back tinted red. "It's nothing."

"So what's the plan?" Yuso asked.

"The plan is to go back in there and take down as many of the Kemurikage as we can. It's so simple even Zuko can do it. Try to take down the humans first, get them out of the way. There are more humans than spirits as far as I know. Luckily for us, the leader decided not to use the children as vessels yet." Azula explained. "And by all means if you can get to the leader and hold him hostage, do it. Kiyi, keep yourself hidden. And Yuso, don't mess this up."

"I won't princess." He smiled.

"You're just going to let her talk to you like that?" Zuko asked.

"Sure, she always did. I think that's how our friendship works."

"You think we're friends?" Azula asked quietly. "Never mind, let's just get in there and get this done with."

Fire burning bright on her palm, she threw the doors open. She let the fire burst from her palm into the ribs of the Kemurikage holding Aang. The boy would definitely be an asset. Zuko's ball of fire slammed into the man holding Mai. And Yuso just fired aimlessly.

By now, Azula realized, the shock factor was beginning to fade. The swarm of Kemurikage was coming to life. The room erupting into the same chaos as the first time; a flurry of limbs and elements.

Azula scanned the room. Listening for a certain voice. She found her target and tugged him towards her by his hood with one hand, clutching more fire with the other. She yanked his hood off with her free hand. Quing was a scrawny boy with a face dotted with freckles, brown eyed, and with a bush of messy light brown hair. Missing a tooth she noted, and much younger than she thought he was.

She bought the flame to his face.

About fourteen if she could take a guess.

She let go of his cloak.

A moment of weakness.

Or maybe it was strength.

She'd beaten him senseless before under the impression that he was seventeen. She wouldn't mar the face of a fourteen year old boy.

She shoved him to the floor and let him scramble away.

Azula turned her focus back to the mob. The water peasant didn't seem to be holding up well, apparently boomerangs don't combat Kemurikage well. _But lightning combats everything well_ , Azula smirked and struck a few of the Kemurikage down.

"Uh, thanks." Sokka uttered.

Azula turned away to take down her next target.

The group was doing much better this time around. Many of the humans were down. Azula dropped to the floor—out of the reach of one of the spirits—and kicked a swirl of flame. Standing herself up right she bumped her head against another Kemurikage, instinctively she backhanded the man and tossed him to the floor.

From across the room came a bolt of lightning. Azula ducked out of its way only to get hit with a ball of fire shot from the same hand. It nailed her in the arm, knocking her to the floor. As her head hit the floor she noticed a little boy scampering towards the exit.

Ears ringing, vision blurring, she thanked Agni that at least the last thing she'd seen was Tom-Tom getting away.

Her final objective complete.

Azula managed a weak smile.

She felt arms lift her off the ground. Rough arms.

A voice rang out above the battle.

It was like the first brawl all over again.

"Give me the boy or the princess dies."

Azula knew it was over then and there. Of course they'd choose Tom-Tom over her…not that they had a choice anyways.

She felt so dizzy.

Her world fell away.


	12. The Aftermath

**Once again, thanks for all the wonderful reviews and commentary guys. It means a lot. That said, since I'm going back to college soon I decided to wrap this one up-this is going to be the last chapter of the fic. I hope ya'll like it.**

* * *

Azula felt a warm gentle hand stroking her hair. Up and down, up and down. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking them against the harsh light. Everything was blurry. There was a dull ringing in her ears. But somehow the soft stroking made it more bearable.

She felt another hand.

A different hand. Grasp her own.

This hand was warmer still and its owner rubbed his or her thumb in comforting circles over the top of Azula's own hand.

Another sensation overcame the princess. A notable heaviness pressed against her stomach making it mildly hard to breath.

She was too sleepy to do anything about it. She tried to speak but could only muster up something comparable to a series of soft hums.

"Shhh." The owner of the voice tucked Azula's hair behind her ear. "It's alright, you need rest."

The voice was as soothing as the touch.

Azula nuzzled her head deeper into the pillow.

She closed her eyes again.

The voice came again. "That's good. You're okay."

This time Azula managed something semi-coherent.

"Mother?" She muttered weakly.

The woman's hand continued to brush over her hair. "Yes, baby. It's over. You did a good job."

"I did?"

She looked up to see her mother smiling cheerfully. "Of course. You bought my daughter back. You bought both of my daughters back."

"Both?"

"You're one of my daughters aren't you?"

Azula nodded. "Who else is here?" She still couldn't find the physical strength to bring her voice above a whisper.

"Kiyi is on the bed with you…"

 _That would explain the weight_. Azula didn't have the energy to make her move, didn't have the heart to either.

"And your friend is the one holding your hand."

"My friend?"

"The Kemurikage boy." Ursa answered.

"Yuso?"

"Hey." He greeted, resting his chin on her shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay."

As if to prove him wrong a sharp pain jolted up her arm where the fire ball had hit and then another radiated somewhere within her head. Azula winced and squeezed her eyes shut as yet another wave of pain struck, this time from somewhere on her torso.

"Are you sure? That I'm okay, I mean."

"Yes, the healers said you'd be just fine." Ursa assured her. "It'll ache for a bit."

"Ache or hurt like a bitch?"

"Azula!" Her mother exclaimed. "Not in front of Kiyi."

The princess laughed, well as much as she could manage. Of course Yuso's obnoxiously loud chuckle overpowered hers.

"Where's Zu-Zu?"

"I told him to make you something to eat. Iroh is making you a cup of tea. Mai is with her brother. I'm sure she's very grateful to have him back unharmed and as happy as ever. The others have gone off to help bring the children back to their families."

Azula rolled onto her side—the one that didn't hurt—placing a hand over the area on her torso that seemed to pulse the most violently. She clenched her teeth.

"Do you want me to get the royal herbalist? I'm sure he has something to numb the pain." Ursa offered.

"I'm fine. I'd rather know exactly what happened to me."

"I'll leave that to Yuso, he's a much more…enthusiastic storyteller than I am." Ursa stood up. "I'll be back soon."

"I'll also see what's taking your brother and uncle so long." She muttered under her breath.

"Okay so it was really neat. I saw you just punching people in the face and you were all 'POW!' 'BAM!' and then…"

Azula rolled her eyes, "that is _not_ what happened."

"That's exactly what happened.

"No it isn't dum-dum." Kiyi chirped. "It was more like this really pretty fiery dance with some lightning."

"That sounds more like me." Azula nodded.

"Okay fine. Fiery dance. Well anyways, you were doing really good; dodging everything and attacking at the same time. And then the leader hit you from behind. Or he tried to, it was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Not the lightning he threw at you, but what you did." Yuso told her.

"I ducked out of the way, it's not that impressive."

"You didn't duck out of the way. You redirected it…sort of. I guess that's why you didn't redirect it so well, because you didn't know you were doing it. But that doesn't really matter because you were able to save yourself."

Azula brushed her fingers over her torso. That must have been where he lightning hit. She sat herself up right and tugged up the hem of her shirt to reveal a web of jagged burn marks crawling across her belly. Wounds that would surely scar in the shape of the lightning that had crackled within her.

She couldn't find the impact point, it was likely higher up.

"Wonderful." She scowled.

Still holding her hand, Yuso draped an arm over her shoulders.

"You would think I would have noticed that…"

"You were…doing a lot at once." Yuso shrugged. "Speaking of which, after the leader missed you the first time he decided to go for round two with the fireball. I think you know how that went. Well after you. Uh. Drifted out. Aang kind of got the dude mad and he threw your head against the wall, yelling about how the next time someone moved he really would kill you. No one was really move at all after that. But he still wanted Tom-Tom and Kiyi, but they weren't there. He tossed you on the ground again and started to do some weird energybending. I don't even think I can call it energybending…more like soulbending or something."

Yuso let his words sink in. "I don't know what it did or was supposed to do though. And then someone chucked a giant rock at the leader. I thought it was Toph at first. The same person threw another rock, I looked around the room, and that's how I found out Quing was an earthbender."

"Quing?" Azula asked. "Saved me?"

"Yeah. I was shocked too. He put up a good fight, actually almost beat the leader. But then he started using the soulbending on Quing." Yuso shuddered. "Quing was so afraid. He was crying I think. He said he just wanted to find his mom. I think he was one of the boys they kidnapped, and then they decided he was old enough to be one of them."

Azula felt a lump forming in her throat. He was just a little boy. He was afraid just like her. And instead of asking him why the hell he was being such a pain in the ass, she beat him up.

"Before he…fell he looked at me and told me to tell you that he's sorry for giving you a hard time."

Azula clutched at her bedsheets.

"Quing provided the opening we needed. Aang finished the job. The Kemurikage all sort of dissipated—the spirits anyways—after their leader fell. The humans surrendered."

"He's dead then?"

"Yeah…" Yuso trailed off.

Ursa appeared back in the room followed by Zuko, Iroh, and the herbalist.

"Here, I made you jasmine tea." Iroh set the steamy beverage in Azula's hands, the hot cup pleasantly warming her palms. She bought the cup to her lips giving it something between a sip and a gulp. She could feel the beverage heating her throat as it went down.

Zuko placed a few plates upon her nightstand. "I didn't know what you wanted so I made you a bunch of things, Yuso and Kiyi can take what you don't eat. You better appreciate this, I worked hard on it."

"Where are the palace staff?" Azula asked.

"I gave them the day off, a lot of their children were taken and I thought they could use a day off to spend some time…"

"I get it Zu-Zu. You're a softie. I would have had them stay." Azula shrugged as she mulled over which of Zuko's dishes looked the most edible.

"I don't know, I think you'd let them take the day off." Zuko replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Azula frowned.

The herbalist waited for Azula to finish her tea and start on her mochi—the only thing Zuko cooked that looked to her like actual food—before getting to work.

He pulled out a sizable vial of spring water infused with cactus juice. "This should clean and numb the wounds."

Azula nodded.

"It's a mix of spring water and—"

Azula nodded again only half listening.

"The cactus juice shouldn't be consumed, but it is good for cleansing—"

She kept thinking about Quing and her father. She ended on a poor note with both of them. There was simply so much left to be said. So much she wished she could tell Ozai in particular. She wanted to ask him, the real him, why he left her behind. She wanted to ask the real him if she was just a pawn.

"What is on your mind Azula?" Iroh asked.

"It's nothing." Azula answered. "It doesn't really matter because I can't do anything about it."

"It's about the scars isn't it?" Zuko asked.

"I suppose in a manner of speaking." Azula mumbled.

"Would you like me to dress your wounds or would you rather do it yourself."

"You can do it."

The herbalist nodded and began bandaging her up from her hips to just beneath her breasts. "Hold out your arm if you will."

Azula lifted her right arm and let the man finish his job. The water-cactus juice stinging her arm upon contact. The man finished bandaging her arm, bowed, and left the room.

"I was just thinking about father…" Azula laid herself back down. "The things I wanted to say…" She stared up at the ceiling. "But I really can't do that now can I?"

"Don't waste your words on him." Iroh declared. "There are so many people in this room and outside of it who you should probably talk to."

Her mind trailed over to Ty-Lee and Mai.

To Zuko.

"And those are the people who will hear you out much better than he would have. I think a few of them already have." He nodded to Kiyi and Zuko. "And I'm sure one of them never really had a problem with you to begin with." He looked at Ursa.

"What about me?" Yuso asked.

"This isn't about you, we're ignoring you. Because you are an idiot" Azula smirked.

"She okay everyone." Yuso declared.

Her uncle was right she had a lot of amends to make, she had given herself a pretty solid start but there was still much to be said.

.oOo.

Azula ran a brush through her hair. A task that had become much more difficult since she let it grow out. "I should really just ask one of my servants to do it." She mused quietly to herself. But ever since the day of the comet it became more of a pride thing—as if to prove to her hair once and for all who the boss was.

She tied her hair up in her trademark topknot.

"You look so cute!" Ty-Lee exclaimed.

"Thank you, Ty-Lee."

It became a sort of ritualistic thing; Azula tying her hair up every morning and Ty-Lee paying her some sort of compliment. She'd patched things up pretty quickly with the acrobat, things smoothed over the easiest with her, that's for sure.

Azula expected Mai to put up more of a fight so she had planned to reach out to her last. To her surprise Mai was the one to approach her. It was simple really. A quick 'thanks for saving Tom-Tom.' Azula almost let her walk away. She grabbed her ex-friend's arm impulsively. When the woman asked her what she wanted Azula had sat in silence for a little while before mustering up the courage to apologize.

The Avatar and his friends were much more weary of her. Katara in particular—Zuko made a point of reminding her that the waterbender had given him the same fight.

About a year.

That's how long it took to earn their trust.

About ten had passed.

In that time Kiyi seemed to have grown closer to her. To Zuko's dismay, the child usually went to Azula with her problems. She was also fond inviting Azula to poke fun at the Fire Lord.

"I can't believe she's fifteen!" Ty-Lee glanced over at Kiyi. The girl had grown to be at least a foot or two taller than a semi-resentful Azula—who became once again the smallest person in her family. Zuko never seemed to let that one go.

"I'm pretty sure you said the same thing when she turned fourteen." Azula shrugged. She turned back to the mirror, working to apply more lipstick.

"I can't believe we're almost thirty!"

Kiyi definitely wasn't the only one who changed. Ty-Lee also got taller, cut her hair as well. She still had something of a baby face. Azula herself seemed to resemble her mother more each year, something she had rather mixed feelings on. Her cheekbones became more pronounced. But of course she didn't get any taller.

Azula rolled her eyes. "And yet you're still full of energy aren't you."

"So when are you gonna marry Yuso?" Ty-Lee nudged Azula, causing the woman to smear her makeup.

Azula sighed and washed away the stray mark. "That is never going to happen. He's like the Fire Nation version of Sokka. He's funny, he's nice to talk to and make fun of…he's like a second brother to me." She stood up.

"If you say so." Ty-Lee rocked herself cheerfully back and forth.

"Hey Zula, you wanna help get me ready? Tom-Tom and I are going out for dinner tonight." Kiyi asked.

"I supposed I can." Azula let the girl steal her chair. She picked up an unused stick of lipstick, put her hand under Kiyi's chin—tilting her head up slightly, and began applying the makeup. Just as she had done so many years ago.


End file.
